Captain Henry Morgan (1635-1688)

What must first be made clear is that Henry Morgan was not a pirate. A
rogue maybe, but not a pirate. He was a privateer. This meant he held a
paper issued by a representative of the English government, the governor of
Jamaica, empowering him to fight the Spaniards on England's behalf. His
pay was in effect what he managed to steal from Spain.

Today this might seem a dastardly way for any government to conduct itself,
but in the world of the 17th century these were accepted means of
conducting naval war among European powers. Hence Henry Morgan was
not an outlaw pirate but a sea-raider authorised by an English Letter of
Marque.

Much about the legendary Sir Henry Morgan has become blurred by myth.
Not even upon his birthplace can the historians decide. He was either born in
1635 in either Penkarne in Monmouth, England or Llanrhymny in
Glamorgan, Wales. Though it is believed he spent his childhood in Wales
and he and his family were indeed Welsh. As such his family appeared well
versed in the art of warfare. Two of his uncles, Edward Morgan and Thomas
Morgan were officers of some success although opposing camps. During the
English civil war Thomas was a Colonel for the Royalist cause and his
brother Edward even rose to the rank of Major-General in Cromwell's army.

Most, if not all of Henry Morgan's youth is unknown. Also how the later
infamous buccaneer ever reached the Caribbean appears to be disputed. I
have come across two versions. One is that he was "Barbadosed". - Many a
hapless visitor of Bristol was beaten over the head and found himself on a
ship the next day, on the way to America where he would sold as an
 -2-

indentured labourer. –

Oliver Cromell, Lord Protector

of England and her Commonwealth.

Later, as England's Puritan Ruler Oliver Cromwell sent forward an army to

the Caribbean under the command of General Venables to attack the
Spaniards, Henry in early 1655 joined this army to escape his indenture on
the island. The other version says Morgan joined General Venables' troops
in 1654 as a volunteer at Plymouth. Either way, Henry Morgan joined up
with Venables' forces.

But, as so often in history, great careers arise as a consequence of complete

disasters. General Venables' attack on the City of Santo Domingo was
defeated. Exhausted and bruised the beaten army dragged itself back to its
ships and limped on downwind to the then almost worthless island of
Jamaica. There the remaining seven to eight thousand troops stormed the
weakly defended shore against the efforts of 200 Spanish soldiers and
conquered the island's only town, Santiago de la Vega.

But this apparent victory was in fact a complete catastrophe. Cromwell had
sent an army, backed up by a huge fleet. Venables had recruited in both
England and the Caribbean around eight to nine thousand men. He had been
expected to achieve a significant victory, capturing a Spanish stronghold, the
likes of San Juan, Santo Domingo, Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Vera Cruz or
even Cartagena. Instead the English had taken a totally undeveloped island.
Both General Venables and Admiral Penn, the commander of the fleet, were
immediately thrown in the infamous Tower of London on their return to
England.
 -3-

Meanwhile on Jamaica the dying continued. The troops were being

decimated by tropical diseases they knew little or nothing about. Yellow
fever, dysentry and malaria killed droves of men. A Spanish resistance,
fighting the English in the forests and savannas as well as runaway slaves,
called Maroons, were reducing their numbers one by one. Throughout all
this Henry Morgan survived.

What followed in the next few years were the courageous naval escapades
and raids on Spanish ports, first by Vice-Admiral Goodson, then by
Commodore Mings. And with the latter Henry Morgan had finally a part to
play. During Ming's 1662 raid on Santiago de Cuba Henry Morgan appears
as a captain of one of the ships envolved. The attack was a thundering
success, with the infamous Castillo del Morro guarding the entrance to the
Bay of Santiago being totally destroyed.

Then in 1663, once again a captain of a privateer ship, Morgan joined Mings
on his daring attack on San Francisco de Campeche. And once more the
ramshackle fleet of English navy vessels and privateers returned with rich
plunder.

Philip IV, proud King of Spain,

who truly must have wished
never to have heard the name
Henry Morgan.

But Henry Morgan and his privateering friends were not the kind to wait
around. Before the end of the year 1663 they were already underway again.
Villa Hermosa, Trujillo and Granada fell victim to their attacks in a
campaign which surpassed anything seen so far. By the time the privateers
reached Port Royal, the main harbour of Jamaica, he was indeed a wealthy
 -4-

man.

By early 1665 Henry Morgan had married his cousin Mary Elizabeth, the
exact date of the marriage being unknown. The Morgan family had arrived
in force by now on Jamaica. His uncle Colonel Edward Morgan had also
arrived since, though had sadly soon died during an attack upon the Dutch
island of Statia, Holland and England being once again at war with each
other.

In 1666 Morgan was made Colonel of the Port Royal Militia, a defence force
in which he had long served as captain and which he now commanded. And
with the Dutch leader of the Brethren of the Coast, Edward Mansvelt (called
Mansfield by the English), having died on Tortuga, the buccaneers promoted
Henry Morgan to take his place and be their "Admiral".

The so undisputed king of the buccaneers, Henry Morgan went on to attack

Puerto del Principe on Cuba which brought in another 50,000 pieces of
eight. His men being disappointed by the recent booty from Puerto del
Principe, Morgan was not to rest. And at the end of June he was already off
the great harbour of Puerto Bello on the northern coast of the Isthmus of
Panama. In a daring attack he took the town, held its citizens to ransom and
beat off 3,000 strong troops coming to the aid of the town from the city of
Panama. Morgan and his men arrived back at Port Royal with 250,000
pieces of eight along other booty in the hulls of their ships. This amounted to
an absolute fortune!

Then in October 1668 Morgan set sail yet again. Governor Modyford and
Morgan had agreed that it was likely the Spaniards were preparing an attack
upon Jamaica. To prevent this it had been agreed Morgan should attack them
instead. The best target it was thought would be Cartagena, Spain's chiefest
harbour along the Main. But on Cow Island where Morgan established his
base for the operation, his prime ship,the Oxford, exploded, killing 300 of
his 900 men.

Reduced by a third of his strength, Morgan no longer thought himself strong

enough to tackle Cartagena and, following an idea by one of his French
captains who'd earlier sailed under the infamous L'Ollonais, he decided to
instead attempt the harbour town of Maracaibo. The raid on Maracaibo was
of little success, all the people having fled the city before the buccaneers had
landed. Morgan sent out search parties to track down some of the citizens
 -5-

hiding in the forests. They found at least some people, but still not much
money was to be had. So Morgan instead decided to take his fleet further
into the Lagoon of Maracaibo towards the town of Gibraltar at its southern
end. But once again, the people were already gone.

After eight unsuccessful weeks in the Lagoon of Maracaibo he sailed back

for Maracaibo itself. There he was to famously meet at sea with Vice-
Admiral Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, who commanded three powerful
men-o-war. On 1 May 1669 the battle took place whereby Morgan's
buccaneers sailed a fireship (a ship purposely set alight) into the Vice-
Admiral's 48-gun ship Magdalen. The Magdalen burnt and sank, the Santa
Louisa fled and the Marquesa, the third Spanish ship, was captured by the
buccaneers.

The battle between Henry Morgan and Don Alonso at Maracaibo

Vice-Admiral Alonso though managed to save himself into the fort of San
Carlos island, the guns of which ranged across the narrow entrance of the
Lagoon of Maracaibo. Thus emerged a stalemate between these most classic
of enemies.
 -6-

Carlos II, the ailing King of Spain

to succeed Philip IV in 1665.

Morgan controlled both the city of Maracaibo, and all the ships. Meanwhile
Don Alonso was marooned in his little fort but controlled the only exit the
buccaneers had. The Spanish citizens now agreed to pay a ransom of 20,000
pesos (pieces of eight) to save their city from being torched by the
buccaneers. But Don Alonso refused to agree with his compatriots and let
the pirates get away. Morgan's men meanwhile busied themselves raising the
gold which had sunk with the stubborn Spaniard's great warship, bringing in
yet anohter 15,000 pieces of eight and more in plate gold.

Then in a strike of genius Morgan began to fake landing his troops close to
Don Alonso's fort for a night attack. (the pirates sat upright when being
rowed landward and lay flat and out of sight, when the "empty" boats were
rowed back to pick up "some more" pirates.) Thus convinced he was about
to be attacked with canoes from landward, Don Alonso moved all his guns
to the landward side of the fort and Morgan cheekily set sail and with the
ebbtide slipped out of the now unguarded channel of the Lagoon. Leaving
his seething enemy behind him, the cunning rogue sailed back for Port Royal
where he arrived in triumph on 17th May 1669. (Poor Don Alonso was at
first arrested and deported to Spain for questioning. But there he was
cleared and deservedly commended for his bravery.)

For the following year Morgan concentrated his efforts more on expanding
his plantations than raiding hapless Spaniards. He'd since grown rich and
was making the most of it, investing into sugar and becoming a man of
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status rather than mere infamy.

Though by the end of 1670 he was to be scheming again. Uniting the two
pirate forces of the Caribbean, those from Port Royal with those from
Tortuga, he now ventured fourth for Panama. Thirty six captains under his
command and 1800 men he first conquered the little island of Old
Providence before continuing southward. He overcame Fort San Lorenzo at
Chagres and then, travelling up the Rio Chagres he headed for his main goal
- Panama.

Governor Don Juan Perez de Guzman, viceroy of Panama, met him in battle
outside Panama on 19 January, outnumbering Morgan's forces by about 500.
Though superior in numbers, the Spaniards' resistance was a fiasco, many of
Guzman's troops fleeing after the first shots were fired. It appears that
Morgan's reputation had preceded him and that in their heart of hearts the
Spanish ranks no longer believed they could overcome the mighty
buccaneer.

Their city fell and, the origins of the fire are disputed, burnt to the ground.
An estimated 400,000 pieces of eight were eventually stolen and/or extorted
from the formerly great Spanish city, but most men are believed to have
been disappointed by this amount. Panama was understood to be the capital
city of Spanish America (one of the richest cities in the whole world!) and
hence it had been expected that one would carry away unseen riches. But the
silver gathered from the Peruvian mines and the merchants' fortunes had all
been taken to safety before Morgan's army arrived.

Though as Morgan in March 1671 got back to Chagres on the north side of
the Isthmus, things were to get worse. Message had arrived that a treaty had
been signed between England and Spain. The buccaneers had in fact
attacked Panama during times of peace between the two Kingdoms. Only
shortly after Morgan had left Port Royal had the message arrived with
Governor Modyford.

Morgan returned back to Port Royal in April. By June Governor Modyford

was already under arrest and on his way back to England. But as more and
more news reached Europe of the great raid and the Spanish court's protests
at this breech of the peace got ever more outraged, the order to arrest Henry
Morgan was eventually dispatched to Jamaica, reaching the island against
the end of 1671.
 -8-

At first the new governor, Sir Thomas Lynch, was reluctant to execute this
order, fearing public disorder if the island's greatest hero was put in chains.
But on 4 April 1672 Henry Morgan was arrested and taken back to England
on the frigate Welcome. Though strangely he was never to see the insides of
the infamous Tower of London, where his former governor Modyford was
incarcerated, although Morgan too remained a prisoner of State.

England was at war with Holland again and governor Lynch on Jamaica was
getting into some trouble trying to fight the Dutch off, for the buccaneers
seemed little cooperative once their leader had been taken away in disgrace.
In July 1673, considering West Indian affairs, the King eventually sought the
advice of Henry Morgan, with the infamous buccaneer replying in writing
what should be done to defend England's greatest colony (the sugar trade
was very, very lucrative and brought in lots of tax for the Crown!).

It is believed that Morgan's memorandum made a good impression with his

Majesty. And, wonder over wonders, it was soon decided that Morgan
should return to his home Jamaica as deputy governor to Lord Vaughan who
was to succeed luckless governor Lynch. And as though it would not have
been enough to be sent back home to his beloved Jamaica for the 34-year old
Welshman, just before Christmas 1675 he was knighted!

Charles II, King of England,

who bestowed a knighthood
on one of the world's most formidable rascals.
 -9-

On 6 March Morgan was back in Port Royal. But never again was he to be
the infamous pirate, far more the respectable man of power and status. He
soon settled down to life in the island's council, overseeing the defences and
of course expanding his fortunes as a rich sugar planter.

George Monck, Duke of Albermarle,

ally of Henry Morgan.
He was made Governor to Jamaica in 1682
and sought to have re-elected as Lieutenant Governor.
The attempt failed, though he gave him a seat on the island's Council.

During his further life as deputy governor he showed great ability when
acting as governor (when the governor proper was in England), endured
countless quarrels and political intrigues with political opponents and even
sued for libel the publishers of Esquelemling's famous tales about him and
the buccaneers of America. For a time his political enemies did get the better
of him, though he was restored to the council shortly before his death on 25
August 1688 .

Sir Henry Morgan had been a heavy-drinking, fighting man of much

charisma and equipped with an indomitable will to succeed. He had been
ruthless and, in execution of his bloody trade, he had no doubt been brutal at
times. But Henry Morgan had never been the sadistic, drunken lout of
Esquemeling's stories.

His contribution to the building of Jamaica had been immense. But with
unique irony history wiped away almost any trace of his doings from the
surface of the earth. As though the gods were out to prove that buccaneers
by their mere nature only could destroy and would leave nothing worthwhile
in their wake, shortly after Morgan's death on 7 June 1696 a massive
 - 10 -

earthquake wiped out the city he had done so much for to build - Port Royal.

Bibliography:
Harry Morgan's Way Buccaneer
by Dudley Pope by H.R.Allen